An ordinary family living a less ordinary life

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Culture Change

What are the technology changes that you can remember? I can remember when (Michael and I were already married) everyone else bought an iPod, but we couldn’t afford it. I remember when I coveted, and eventually bought, my first cell phone. I can remember when our family got internet for the first time. I can remember when I played my first video game on a big clunky computer (pre-PC, but I’m not geek enough to remember what it was). Since I can remember, so many things have been changed by technology…internet…smart phones..smart cars…smart cigarettes…

I’m sure the changes loom even larger for my parents and grandparents. My great aunt tells stories about being a computer programer for one of the early computers…it was gigantic, and the “programmers” would carry punch cards from one side of the computer room to the other. I wish I could remember how many kilobytes of memory it had. Our iPad (that we can easily hold in hands) has like several billion more bytes (give or take a few) than that early computer. Maybe. I don’t know how to do byte math.

So many changes in these last few generations.

But, it’s nothing compared to our friends here.

Imagine going from carrying your fire in mango seeds, to looking at pictures on your great-grandkids’ cell phone. One of the oldest guys in the village (he’s probably only 70ish) told Michael about what it was like before they had cloth (you use wood bark cloth that disintegrated when it rained). What it was like before they had matches (coals in a hollowed out mango seed). What it was like before they had water bottles (you use lengths of bamboo…so much greener, and healthier).

Around here, people aren’t really that nostalgic for the good old days.